Project: Automated offsite backups for an NSLU2 -- part 11
Previously in this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10.
I'm setting up automated offsite backups from my NSLU2 to Amazon S3. With suprisingly little effort, I've managed to get a tool called s3sync running on the "slug" (as it's known). s3sync is a Ruby script, so in order to run it, I had to install Ruby, which in turn meant that I had to replace the slug's firmware with a different version of Linux, called Unslung. All of this worked pretty much as advertised in the tools' respective documentation -- for the details, see the previous posts in this series.
Having confirmed that s3sync worked as I'd expect it to, I needed to install it
in a sensible place -- I'd previously just put it in /tmp -- set it up so that
I could use SSL to encrypt the data while it was on its way to Amazon, and then
write a script to synchronise at least one of the directories I want backed up.
I'd then be able to test the script, schedule it, test the scheduling, and then
I'd be done!
Project: Automated offsite backups for an NSLU2 -- part 10
Previously in this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9.
I'm setting up automated offsite backups from my NSLU2 to Amazon S3. With suprisingly little effort, I've managed to get a tool called s3sync running on the "slug" (as it's known). s3sync is a Ruby script, so in order to run it, I had to install Ruby, which in turn meant that I had to replace the slug's firmware with a different version of Linux, called Unslung. All of this worked pretty much as advertised in the tools' respective documentation -- for the details, see the previous posts in this series.
As all of the pieces were in place, I next needed to do some simple tests to make sure it could handle the kind of files I wanted it to back up. In particular, I wanted it to be able to handle deep directory hierarchies, and to remember user and group ownership and file permissions.
Project: Automated offsite backups for an NSLU2 -- part 9
Previously in this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8.
I'm setting up automated offsite backups from my NSLU2 to Amazon S3. The tool I need to use to make this happen is called s3sync; it's a Ruby script, so in order to run it, I had to work out some way of installing Ruby. In order to do that, I had to replace the slug's firmware with a different version of Linux, called Unslung; once that was done, getting Ruby up and running wasn't too tricky. The next step was to get s3sync itself to work.
Christmas has come early
I read Make 6 last week -- a bit late, I know -- and fell immediately in love with the idea of BEAM robotics, simple robots that can be build at home with simple tools, but display complex behaviour. Last Wednesday I placed an order with Solarbotics for the components I needed to build the "Trimet" robot described in the magazine, and today it was delivered -- not at all bad for something that was shipped from Canada!
Given that my Dremel tool was delivered today as well -- oddly enough, Tesco.com (a supermarket) had the best UK price I could easily find -- it's all I can do to hold myself back from building a robot or two this evening... but I'll be strong, and will finish the NSLU2 project first.
Project: Automated offsite backups for an NSLU2 -- part 8
Previously in this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.
I've discovered that in order to get automated offsite backups from my NSLU2 to Amazon S3, I have to get it to run Ruby so that it can run s3sync. Installing Ruby required the slug's firmware to be upgraded to a new version of Linux, called Unslung, so I did that -- and I also installed s3sync on an Ubuntu machine as a dry run. Both of these worked out OK, so the next step was to get the Ruby language itself running under the Unslung firmware -- and importantly, to make sure that Ruby had the OpenSSL package installed; the latter had proven non-obvious under regular Linux, so I was expecting problems on Unslung, which is, after all, a cut-down version of the operating system.
Project: Automated offsite backups for an NSLU2 -- part 7
Previously in this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.
I've discovered that in order to get automated offsite backups from my NSLU2 to Amazon S3, I have to get it to run Ruby so that it can run s3sync. I've installed the latter on a Ubuntu machine as a dry run, and it all looks good -- so now I need to get Ruby onto the slug, and the first step in that direction is to install Unslung.
Project: Automated offsite backups for an NSLU2 -- part 6
Previously in this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.
I now know that in order to get automated offsite backups from my NSLU2 to Amazon S3, I have to get it to run Ruby so that it can run s3sync. I want to back everything up first, which is going to take some time -- so while that's happening, I'll get both Ruby and s3sync installed on an Ubuntu Linux machine as a dry run.
Project: Automated offsite backups for an NSLU2 -- part 5
Previously in this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
In order to get automated offsite backups from my NSLU2 to Amazon S3, I've determined I need to use s3sync, a Ruby script. Obviously, this means that I need to get Ruby running on the "slug".
As I noted earlier, the standard firmware will not support Ruby, so the first step is going to have to be to install new firmware. The matrix of possibilities on the NSLU2-Linux site lists a bunch. My gut instinct is to stay as close to the original firmware -- to the left of the matrix -- as possible. I've been using Linux for a long time now - on and off since 1992 -- but I've never really got to a serious kernel-recompiling porting-it-to-a-ZX81 level with it. So let's keep things as simple as possible.
Project: Automated offsite backups for an NSLU2 -- part 4
Previously in this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
I am trying to get my NSLU2 to back itself up automatically to Amazon S3. I currently know that in order to get this to work, the "slug" (as it's affectionally known) will need to be upgraded with new firmware -- basically, a new version of Linux. Just which of the many competing firmwares is appropriate will depend on the software I use to do the sync, and so it's time to work through the various options presented in Jeremy Zawodny's post and the comments people have left there.
Project: Automated offsite backups for an NSLU2 -- part 3
Previously in this series: Part 1, Part 2.
I am trying to get my NSLU2 to back itself up automatically to Amazon S3. At the end of the last post, I noted that the device would need new software to make it do so; and while it's Linux-based, it's really not designed to be extended like this. Time to go online.